Cinestill 400D Redux, Part 5: The deadly but beautiful park

Here are the last of the pictures from my most recent roll of Cinestill 400D, shot on my Pentax K-1000 and 100mm macro lens.

These shots were taken at a park I traveled to with the express purpose of finishing off this roll of film.

I’m a bit overdramatic about how safe the park is because of the events recorded here, wherein I escaped death due to sheer luck and despite lacking a decent sense of self-preservation.

It had been raining heavily in the days leading up to my visit, and in fact, had been raining on and off during my visit.

So the first shot I took was of a large, beautiful rainbow. Can you see it?

I promise it is there. With Cinestill and this scan, it’s like those novelty posters where you have to look at it through your periphery in order to see it. It was more visible in real life. f11, 1/60 sec.

This turned out nicely. I’m really happy at how the ripples were captured. And as an added bonus: halation at the top right! f6.8, 1/125 sec.

This one isn’t quite as striking, but I still like it. f5.6, 1/125 sec.

And there it is. That sweet, sweet halation. I don’t know why I like the effect so much, but I do. f5.6, 1/125 sec.

I wanted to capture the sign, isolated by the surrounding chain link fence. I think it would work better with more contrast, and I might come back to this image and try some edits. f5.6, 1/250 sec.

I crossed a bridge with a series of murals painted on it. I decided to use this bright, cheerful panel for a shadow self-portrait. f8, 1/500 sec.

And that’s a wrap on this roll.

Lessons learned: if the goal is halation, I really need a lot of sunlight. Which means that if it’s overcast or mostly cloudy, I have to give up on the halation. From a strictly color reproduction perspective, I like ColorPlus 200, Kodacolor 200, and, slightly less, Kodacolor 400 more than Cinestill. But those emulsions don’t give me halation. So I really need to know, before loading the film, what I’m shooting for (ha ha, see what I did there?). Which can be hard if I know it will take me more than one session or day to finish off the roll.

I still like Cinestill, but I think despite it being ISO 400, this is a film I’d prefer in brighter conditions where I could also get away with a slower film. It works in darker conditions, but doesn’t have as much flare.

Next time: Ilford Delta 400 … half frame.

 

CineStill 400 – Sunrise and stillness

These are the last pictures from my roll of CineStill 400 I’ll be sharing. The results are … mixed.

This pomegranate caught my eye from a distance, redder than the others in the tree. But this photo feels flat and dull, and the color reproduction is not very accurate. It leans more brown and yellow. There’s also a bird above it, but like the pomegranate, it too is slightly out of focus. Drat! f8, 1/125 sec

Here, at least, the pomegranate is in focus. But the colors are washed out and nothing pops. f8, 1/250 sec

Here is another pomegranate that leapt out at my due to its bright red color. You can almost see that in this image, but the color reproduction ultimately disappoints me. And being mostly in shade, there is no dramatic halation. f4, 1/250 sec

This one, surprisingly, I like. I thought the leaves struck an interesting contrast to the bare branches around them, and snapped a photo, not really believing it would result in an interesting image. But it’s sharper and pops more than the pomegranate images I thought for sure would impress me. I wanted to frame the leaves in the “V” of a branch in the foreground, and I think that worked out well, too. f8, 1/125 sec

I’ll close with this shot of an abandoned car. The sun was glaring off the rooftop, and I was hoping to capture that with this picture. I think I did. f8, 1/250 sec

Next time: Ilford Delta 400, another gifted roll of film that I think turned out pretty good.

 

CineStill 400 – Here a horse, there a horse, everywhere a horse horse

There are mules, and sometimes horses, not too far from my in-laws. I like to photograph them, but have to settle for the lighting conditions I get when I’m visiting.

For these photos, it was mostly sunny, which is great if you are shooting film known for its halation.

The sun was low in the sky and just perfect for what I was attempting. Note the blown out halation of the trailer in the background. The faint lines in the foreground are not scratches from development processing, but barbed wire. f8, 1/125 sec

This photo isn’t bad, but I like the one below more. I only shared this one to show the color difference. These pictures were not taken that far apart, but the color in this one is flatter and browner. f9.5, 1/250 sec

The grass is actually green in this image and far less brown than in the previous image. I like how the sunlight is hitting them in both images, but I think there’s slightly more halation in the foreground horse in this picture. But I also had the aperture open a half stop more in this shot. f8, 1/250 sec

I think with the right lighting conditions, you can really make this film shine. I’m not saying these photographs are great, but I’m starting to learn how CineStill works, particularly when it comes to halation. Direct sunlight, evenly lit doesn’t generate it as much, but angled, or with a composition that has some shadows, it is more prevalent.

Next time: Something a little less mobile to photograph